PMQs: The Labour Party or the Welfare Party? Ed Miliband needs a soundbite of his own, and soon

"I thought it was the Labour Party not the Welfare Party." So said David Cameron during a pretty lacklustre PMQs today.

It was about the most interesting thing that happened in the session, which weirdly failed to get on to the economy and tomorrow's Q1 GDP figures. People complain about Mr Cameron ducking out of PMQs frequently, but on today's showing by all concerned, it's no great loss.

Still, at least we got to see Mr Cameron trying out his attack line in response to some fairly mild Labour questioning about assessments of benefits claimants' fitness to work. It's meant to stir up a Labour debate about the party's image on welfare issues; a significant number of Labour people worry that Ed Miliband's big decision to oppose many aspects of the Coalition welfare programme has exposed their party to political attack from both the Conservatives and, to a lesser extent, Ukip.

Mr Miliband's friends offer two counter-arguments. First, they say, Labour does have a jolly tough welfare policy: the jobs guarantee, which obliges claimants to take work after two years, is stringent stuff, they say. Second, the Coalition has overdone the rhetoric on welfare claimants, scroungers etc, and will actually alienate a lot of *working* people who also claim some benefits, people whose votes will count in 2015.

Those may well be good arguments. But even believers admit they're not coming across to voters very clearly. Certainly, they lack the simple brutality of Mr Cameron's line today, which will be repeated over and over until the general election.

Wherever Labour's welfare policy ends up, it needs to be something that can be communicated quickly, easily and memorably. Otherwise those two little words, "Welfare Party", will do real harm.